10 Thoughts: WWE RAW 11.18.2013 (Daniel Bryan, Big E Langston, Rey Mysterio)

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Welcome to the new Chris Sanders version of 10 Thoughts. How’s it any different from Matt Harrak’s 10 Thoughts? Probably not at all but who’s counting! Thanks to Matt Harrak to handing me the reigns. I had a lot of fun filling in for him a while back and I’m excited to do this on a regular basis.

Let’s see how long my excitement lasts as I get ready for…

Country Raw!

1. I probably wouldn’t have been so against an overly gimmicky episode this week had we not JUST had one last week in Manchester. This was just bad. I won’t waste too many thoughts on this and I’ll try to wrap it all in this single thought but we really didn’t need the country music video cuts. And I get the concert because they’re apparently a hot act (although not even close to the most downloaded or however Lawler worded it) and WWE wants their country episode to at least be relevant. Doesn’t make any of this good, just saying that I understand.

2. Big E is your new Intercontinental Champion! I’m really stoked about this because it means we don’t need to accept the failed Curtis Axel experience anymore and I’m excited for Big E taking a step. It doesn’t mean much in the grand scheme of things because the IC champ still holds as much power as Sin Cara’s sprained finger but it’s a step in the right direction for Big E. They seems to be growing more and more with the fans although I’m still not sure if that WWE App vote a few ago that he won was legit.

3. I didn’t hate the Big Show and Ryback match but I wasn’t necessarily in love with it either but that’s mostly because I feel dirty anytime I like something that Big Show and/or Ryback does in the ring.

4. Good for Miz for going from a face that did nothing back to a heel that’ll probably do nothing.

5. HHH said that Sandow and Dolph have had issues lately. This is complete news to me. Either I missed that on my brief skim through Smackdown or WWE has resorted to making this all up on the fly. But moving past that, the Broadway Brawl was just a dumb idea and right on par with the Christmas match that Cena had against Del Rio last year. I’ll agree that Dolph using the bass drum did help the match be less terrible but it still hurts because I want to much better for Dolph…and Sandow too for that matter. The spot where Damien Sandow “dropped the bass” onto Dolph was about as perfect a metaphor as any of Dolph’s position within the company right now.

6. Cena tricked Del Rio with the sling when he JUST finished telling the world how he doesn’t resort to tricks. #NotAFace

7. Xavier Woods made his debut! I’ve been compelled by this kid as of late. I caught a few of his matches here and there and he entertains the hell out of me on twitter. I could do without the fact that he’s debuting with R-Face but I’ll take it for now.

8. Let’s go ahead and take note that even though there’s no ranking whatsoever of these 10 thoughts, there will be times we’re they’re gonna be out of sequence of how they happened during the show. Blame my stream of consciousness. Anyway, what does a badly-ref’d game of musical chairs have to do with a country Raw show? It seemed like the only purpose of this segment was to play a song by a country band THAT IS ALREADY GOING TO PLAY LIVE LATER IN THE DAMN SHOW! And yes, it sort of set up the Divas elimination tag match at Survivor Series but this is the scenario where just a simple announcement would of sufficed.

9. I was so incredibly angry when the main event on Raw was a match that should be on the card for Survivor Series. However, my anger subsided by the time the match happened because it’s hard to still be angry when you’re watching a match with those particular wrestlers all in the same ring. Everything was great until Mysterio came out to save the day after the match. I understand that there’s such a nostalgic respect and admiration for Mysterio but with an exception for feuds with Punk and Jericho, the Mysterio of the past 5-6 years does absolutely nothing for me. I get the pun with him being the “mysterious” partner at Survivor Series and raise you a hearty obscene gesture.

10. I’m not looking forward to Survivor Series at all. Had WWE booked that 12-man elimination tag match, I would’ve been there with the proverbial bells on. Instead, we get Punk and Bryan off their main event feuds to have a match with the members of the Wyatt family that we don’t really care about. I still think Bryan’s stint away from the WWE Championship will be short-lived and he’ll win the Rumble but still, no bueno.

What a week to start 10 Thoughts, right? Hopefully next week will be a lot more cheerful and fun. In the meantime, check out this week’s RAGER coming your way on Wednesday and stay tuned for this week’s Classy Ring Attire podcast (follow us on twitter @CRAttire).

Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do twice,
Chris

Chris is a writer from Fayetteville, NC. He's the co-creator of Irrelevant But Awesome Productions which produces podcasts you all know and love like Classy Ring Attire, Trashy Ring Attire and The Disney Magic Podcast. You can keep up with everything on twitter by following @IBAStudios and @CWSanders39